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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2002
Wednesday, July 3, 2002
NEWS
REPORT DOUBTS THE SAFETY OF FERTILIZER FROM SEWAGE SLUDGE ; LOCALLY, ST. PETERS
USES SUCH MATERIAL FROM MSD
The Associated Press Phil Sutin Of The Post-Dispatch Contributed To This
Report.
HEALTH & SCIENCE
The government is using outdated science to assess the health
risks of more than 3 million tons of sewage sludge used as
fertilizer each year, a panel of scientists argues in a report
issued Tuesday.
When the Environmental Protection Agency set standards in 1993 on
the use of "biosolids" for treating soil, it used an unreliable
survey from 1988 to identify hazardous chemicals in sewage sludge,
according to the panel, a part of the National Research Council.
Since then, the panel says, the technology has improved greatly.
The panel's report had been requested by the EPA. The report
offers no scientific evidence that the EPA's standards fail to
protect public health. But it says the agency needs to do more
scientific work. EPA officials had no immediate comment.
Adam Krantz of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies
said, "Everyone wants to make this into some gigantic crisis
situation when there's not a sufficient degree of specific
evidence."
After sewage sludge is treated to limit concentrations of some
chemicals and reduce pathogens, it becomes what is known as
biosolids. The material can be used as fertilizer on farms, forests,
parks, golf courses, lawns and home gardens.
About 5.6 million tons of sewage sludge are generated each year
in the United States. About 60 percent of it is used as fertilizer.
The rest is burned or buried in landfills. Dumping into the ocean
was banned in 1992.
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District incinerates about 90
percent of its sludge at a temperature of up to 1,600 degrees, said
Jeff Theerman, director of operations. The district buries the ash
in a landfill it owns off Riverview Drive.
Sludge from the Grand Glaize treatment plant in Valley Park goes
to landfills. A process at the Missouri River treatment plant in
Maryland Heights that "digests" pathogens turns some of the sludge
into a solid that the district supplies to St. Peters for fertilizer
on farmland that the city owns. The rest becomes methane gas, which
the district uses to pro duce electricity for the plant.